Jianli Yang
Washington Times, Apr. 10, 2023
“… working with Chinese battery makers when the CCP is actively attempting to undercut our position globally and performing open acts of belligerence such as flying spy balloons over our sovereign territory is just as wrong.”
As a longtime China analyst and watchdog, I am gravely concerned that electric vehicle manufacturers appear to be inadvertently selling America’s national security to the Chinese Communist Party.
It was just weeks ago that Ford, Tesla and other automakers struck the ire of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, the Federal Communications Commission and members of Congress for removing AM radios from their cars. America’s public safety leaders sent letters to these automakers and key decision-makers voicing their concerns over how the removal of AM is likely to disrupt the effectiveness of the National Public Warning system, the federal government’s tried-and-true way of reaching the public in emergencies. They also received scrutiny from taxpayer advocates, who criticized them for taking billions of dollars in government subsidies and incentives yet refusing to resolve their motors’ interference with the AM receivers.
Now, these EV makers are again receiving condemnation for inadvertently endangering America’s national security, but this time, their behavior has geopolitical implications.
Some carmakers are seeking to work with Chinese electric battery makers to complete the production of their vehicles in the United States. Ford, for example, is working on a billion-dollar deal that includes working with Contemporary Amperex Technology Co. Ltd., or CATL, a Chinese battery manufacturer, to make batteries for its new cars in the United States. Working with companies like CATL might help these automakers cut costs and even qualify for more subsidies through the Inflation Reduction Act. Still, it will do so while ballooning the CCP’s influence and leverage over the U.S. at the same time.
” .. [To read the full article, click here]
_____________________________________________________